Pleating for garments



ov' 21a AN PLEATING FOR GARMENTS Filed July 10. 1947 Patented Nov. 2l, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PLEATIN G FOR GARMENTS Catherine Brennan, North Bay, Ontario, Canada Application July 10, 1947, Serial No. 759,943 In Ganada December 12, 1946 l c1, 2.1243 l 2 Claims, l

The invention is directed to pleated articles of wearing apparel, more particularly skirts and the like. f

Hitherto, skirts with pleats have differed in appearance on the exterior'or wearing side and the interior side such that it would be impossible to wear the garment in reverse manner. With articles of the type referred to, the interior side presented an irregular and unattractive appearance.v

It is an object of this invention to provide an article of wearing apparel which may be worn in a reversed manner.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a novel method of stitching the seams of pleats that will produce the desirable effect described above.

An additional object of this invention is to provide a garment capable of advantageously utilizing material having a diierent pattern on each side thereof.

In its broad aspect the invention consists in an article (e. g. a skirt or like garment) made from cloth and having a pleated section, the two sides of the pleated section of the garment having a constructionally identical appearance.

More specically the invention consists in a pleated textile article in which the textile material is folded into partly overlapping zig-zag form such that each fold overlies three additional layers of the material and in which adjacent to each fold there is a line of stitching securing the two parts of the fold to one another and also to one, or two, but not the third, of the immediately underlying layers, whereby the stitching of the folds at each side of the article will be visible from that side only.

The invention also provides the method of forming pleats in garments and the like manufactured from cloth which comprises forming the cloth into loops of the required size, and stitching the bases of the loops, and the additional step of stitching the loops together.

In one form of the method the pleats are formed by the steps of folding the material into loops of which each has a length greater than the separation of adjacent loops but less than the sum of the length of the loop and the separation of adjacent loops, stitching each loop to the material connecting it with one of the adjacent loops at a position near the base of the loop, pressing the loops to lie against the body of the material so as to form a partly overlapping zig-zag formation covering the aforesaid stitching and then stitching the free end of each loop to the underlying material without extending to the lowermost layer of material so that for each pleat as seen on either side of the article there is a single Visible line of stitching adjacent to the free end of the loop.

The pleats formed according to the invention are of the ordinary plain type, and may run vertically of the length of the garment.

In the following description, the details of the invention yare disclosed with reference to the ac. companying drawings in which:

Figure 1 illustrates the similarity in appearance between front and back of a piece of material when pleated according to the invention. View 1 shows the appearance of the upper surf face of the pleated material in Figure 3. View 2 shows the lower surface of the pleated material in Figure `3.

Figure 2 is a front elevation of view 1 of Figure l showing the first Step in forming the pleat.

Figure 3 is a front elevation of view 2 of Figure 1 showing the second step in forming the pleat.

The rst step of forming the pleat is disclosed in Figure 2 where the material oi the garment shown at I0 is formed into loops i I which are stitched at the point A. The stitching passes through the sides IIa and I Ib of the loop II and through the unlooped or web portion I 4 of the material. The length of the row of stitching I2 of the type shown at B in Figure 1 will depend upon the nature of the garment and the size of pleat desired.

The second step in forming the pleat involves stitching the loops together in a novel manner, to present a uniform appearance on both sides of the material. A row of stitching as shown at B is passed through the sides I Ia and I Ib of one loop near the apex of the loop I3 and through the sides IIa and IIb of the adjoining loop near the base I5 of the latter loop but above the line of stitching A. The line of stitching B does not pass through the unlooped portion ifi of the material. The point of stitching B will, of course, depend upon the width of pleat being formed and may vary from garment to garment.

From the above description, it will be apparent that the novel method of pleat formation conceals portions of the stitching necessary of forming the pleat. Thus, stitching A will be seen from one side in Figure 2 when looking from underneath but by folding the loops I I over each other and -stitching only through the loops as shown in Figure 3 the stitching B will only be apparent from the top side of the material.

In making the garment stitching A is lpreferahly done on one side of the material. The stitching A may be carried out by hand or machine methods obvious to those skilled in the art. The material is then reversed, that is back to front to complete the stitching B. The stitching B may be carried out by following the methods used in connection with stitching A, the loops being stitched in succession from left to right. Two adjoining loops are pressed together conv pletey covering the intervening material, the left-hand or overlapping loop will overlap the portion l la of the right-hand or underlying loop. The material is then folded back in such a manner that the portion IIb of the right-hand loop is exposed. The row of stitching B may then be made without stitching through the intervening part I4.

Garments pleated according to the invention just described may be worn in a reverse manner without apparent diierence in appearance of the pleated portion. The invention is particularly applicable to ladies skirts which Vare usually pleated. If the material from which the garment is made has a different pattern on each side or the pattern can be adjusted as with plaid or tartans, the reversible feature of the garment creates the impression of a different article.

Articles of clothing made according to the disclosure of this invention are more economical to use owing to their reversible property. A spotted garment may easily be reversed and worn until an opportunity of cleaning is presented.

The invention has been described with reference to ladies skirts but it is apparent that it could be applied to Wearing apparel of all types or to other articles manufactured from textiles.

I claim:

1. A pleated textile article comprising a series of loops formed in the textile material, a web of unfolded material between the adjacent loops,

said loops being arranged in a zig-zag manner, with each loop partly overlapping the next adjacent loop, a line of stitching extending through the material of each loop near the base thereof and into the material of the web, an additional line of stitching near the apex of each overlying loop passing through both layers of material in that loop and into the adjacent layers only of the material of the underlying loop.

2. A pleated textile article comprising a series of loops formed in the textile material, a web of unfolded material between adjacent loops, said loops being arranged in a zig-zag manner, with each loop partly overlapping the next adjacent loop, the length of each of said loops being greater than the length of the web between the adjacent loops but less than the sum of the length of each individual loop and the intervening web, a line of stitching extending through the material of each loop near the base thereof and into the material of the web, and additional line of stitching near the apex of each overlying loop passing through both layers of material in that loop and into the adjacent layers only of the material of the underlying loop. f

CATHERINE BRENNAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 944,292 Springer Dec. 28, 1909 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 8,938 France May 15, 1908 (Addition to 377,128) 

